Discussion

Looking for a non-dairy "buttercream" recipe

I have a question. I avoid making desserts with dairy and transfats, for kosher and health reasons respectively. (My sabbath meals are meat-based, hence the dairy restriction.) I have been making cake frosting with the non-dairy, transfat-free variety of Tofutti cream cheese, because it stays firm on cakes and cupcakes. I have wanted to try a "buttercream"-type frosting, but I notice that whenever my Earth Balance margarine is out of the fridge for even 10 minutes or so, it starts to soften up. Because of that, I haven't used it for frosting, for fear that it would start to "melt" on the cake. Does anyone have any experience with a tasty, non-dairy "buttercream" that uses transfat-free shortening or margarine. Any of you vegans out there, perhaps?

I've used Earth Balance in the fluffy "buttercream" recipe from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World," which is pretty much a standard buttercream recipe but you beat it much longer with a mixer. This extra step does indeed result in a very fluffy buttercream, I think closer to a commercial bakery frosting in both texture and flavor than to a true buttercream (i.e., creamy). The frosting is fine at room temp, presumably because of the powdered sugar and soy milk/creamer--I've applied it with a knife and also with a pastry bag.

Just reporting back . . . I have now made this recipe three times. The first time, I had some shortening, but the second time, I realized I didn't and had no time to go buy some, so I made it with all Earth Balance. No problems whatsoever with melting out of the fridge. I piped the frosting on, and the cupcakes were out for close to a day before they were eaten at the Sabbath meal, and they were fine. And the all Earth Balance version tasted better, more "buttery" than the shortening/Earth Balance mix, so that's what I'm sticking with for now. By the way, I did not use any soy milk; the frosting was the consistency I wanted without it, so I left it out.